IUCN threat status:

Comprehensive Description

Four species of Labeo have been reported so far from the Nile basin, excluding Lake Victoria, i.e. Labeo niloticus ( Forskal , 1775) , L. horie Heckel, 1847 , L. coubie Rueppel , 1832 and L. forskalii Rueppel , 1835 (Heckel, 1847; Sandon, 1950; Abu-Gideiri, 1984; Bailey, 1994). In January 2006 during an ichthyological investigation on the River Nile in the Republic of Sudan a small Labeo species was found, similar in general appearance to L. ogunensis Boulenger, 1910 from West Africa. Morphometrics and meristics, however, soon revealed differences from every Labeo species described until know. Herein the new species L. meroensis is described using meristics, morphometrics and live coloration.